Hogwarts, A Mystery
by Raekitty13
Summary: What happens when Harry, tired from Quidditch Practice comes back to the common room to find his favorite chair missing and an odd black hole in its place? Could Dumbledore and Sirius really be alive? One Shot


**Hogwarts, a Mystery**

**By Raekitty13**

**Disclaimer: **Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling and last time I checked I wasn't Jo Rowling, so I don't own Harry Potter. Plain and simple people, get it through your thick skulls already!

**A/N: **This story is an assignment from a Harry Potter Message Board I am a member of. The site is called The Third Floor Corridor. My class is Writer's Course and my professor is Heartdamoose. I hope you enjoy. Moose gave her students a start for a story and we were told to finish the story twisting it in any way we wanted to. Here's my assignment, I hope I do well, and I hope the rest of you enjoy it! (The Bolded story below is Moose's introduction.)

**Harry Potter was exhausted. His bones creaked stubbornly from all the labor they had been through from the Quidditch practiced he had just come from, and just the task of keeping his eyes open was a hard one.**

He walked, well actually, he more or less shuffled, across the common room floor towards the heavens that was called his nice soft bed.

There was a pop behind him. Being the exhausted person he was, his reaction was slow and he sluggishly turned around, wondering just what that noise was. However, all signs of sluggishness, laziness, or fatigue had evaporated from his body in the time period of a half a second as his eyes widened in shock.

The nicest chair in the common room had disappeared, and in its place was a cleanly cut hole, bathing in darkness. He walked over to it curiously, and leaned next to the hole. There was a ladder leaning down, and waves of curiosity rushed through him as he wondered just what was down there. 

All of Harry's previous exhaustion was long gone. He grabbed the ladder and swung his legs down into the hole. "Lumos," Harry said, lighting his wand.

He tucked his wand through his belt loop so that it shine down into the hole. He was curious and excited, but he was still cautious. Suddenly another idea came to mind. Why was he rushing to go alone? Was it a trap? He should ask Ron and Hermione to join him. There's always safety in numbers.

Harry began to climb back out of the hole, but found that he couldn't lift his legs out of the hole, it was like magical sinking sand. Pulling him into its depths and unknown danger beyond. Harry cried out but nobody was in the common room to hear him.

Desperately reaching into his pocket he found his DA Gallon. "Weird. How did this get here? I haven't seen this since fifth year." Harry thought to himself. But as the darkness began to absorb him again he put that thought at the back of his mind. He rubbed the DA Gallon and whispered his location.

He knew that most of the DA members wouldn't be able to help him because most of them had either left last year or were members of other houses. But he still hoped that at least ONE of the Gryffindor DA Members would still carry that Gallon around with them.

Around the school in pretty random places three of Harry's close friends felt something suddenly warm their pockets. The first one to get Harry's message was Neville Longbottom. He was in the bathroom just washing his hands when something in his pocket began to warm.

At first he thought it was his remembrall. Had he forgot to flush the toilet or something? Reaching into his pocket expecting to find his remembrall his fingers surprisingly closed around a very warm gallon.

Pulling out of his pocket he realized that he had grabbed this out of his trunk this morning instead of his remembrall. Completely forgetting what the gallon was for Neville went in search of someone who would know… Ginny Weasley.

Ronald Weasley was in the hallway fulfilling his duties as Prefect. He was wandering the halls making sure the students weren't snogging in the halls when he ran into Hermione Granger. Well, then he sort of forgot his duties. The only things on his mind then were: how wicked it would be to snog Hermione, getting his fingers stuck in her hair as he snogged her, and what her skin below his fingertips would feel like as he would gently caress her face, while snogging her of course.

He was on full flirt mode.

"Hey, Mione!" Ron said lovingly.

"Hey, Ronald," Hermione replied sweetly.

"So, did you catch anybody snogging in the halls?" Ron asked in what he hoped was a nonchalant voice.

"No yet. But I was hoping to catch two certain people."

"Really?" Ron asked intrigued. "Who, might I ask?"

"Curse it all," Hermione muttered flirtatiously. "Where's the mistletoe when you need it?"

Ron heard her muttering and moved a little closer to her thinking, _'If there's one thing I learned from the__ Marauders.'_ "Right here."

"Where?" Hermione was still being flirtatious as she began to search for the mistletoe Ron was speaking of.

Ron pulled a piece of mistletoe out of his pocket and held it above their heads, smiling. "Right above you."

Hermione looked up and found her lips inches from Ron's who had lowered his face closer to hers. "Oh… Ronald, you do realize that it's two months past Christmas, right?"

"Who cares, you can still find a way to make me as happy as if it were Christmas Day," He replied, his lips brushing hers softly.

"I thought you always used to make fun of my knitting." Hermione giggled as Ron placed his arm around her waist. "No, Mr. Weasley, I'm pretty sure I can't make you happy. Nobody can match your mother's knitting."

Ron laughed. "It's not my mother's knitting that makes Christmas perfect. It's you walking, down those steps still in your pajamas giggling with Ginny, Hermione."

Hermione looked into Ron's eyes with a new light shining in her own. "W-what do you mean?"

He could feel her shaking in his arms, so he pulled her closer. "You're all I need to have a perfect Holiday and I hope to spend many more with you, Hermione."

Hermione stood on tip toe and whispered in his ear, "You don't know how long I've been waiting to hear you say something like that, Ronald Weasley."

Ron grinned and leaned closer to her yet; about to kiss her when he felt something warm in his pocket. Pulling away from Hermione he reached into his pocket a little confused. All he had in there were a couple of gallons he had been saving for a treat. He pulled three gallons out of his pocket and Hermione grabbed one.

She turned it over and noticed the DA markings on the back glowing brightly.

"Harry!" The said together and ran to the Gryffindor common room.

Luna was the last one to notice the gallon, yet she was the closest to Harry. She was in her dormitory looking through her trunk, trying to organize it. She had pulled a whole bunch of things and was now randomly throwing it all back in trying to convince the monsters in her trunk to leave.

She was about to randomly throw the last thing on her bed, the DA Gallon, back into her trunk when it began to glow. She almost didn't notice it. If it wasn't for the little second year that had poked her head in, Luna might not have noticed it.

"What _is_ that?" she asked pointing to the coin in Luna's hand.

"It's a gallon." Luna replied suspiciously. Then she got an idea. "Hey, are you from Earth?"

"Um, yeah. And I also live in England." Replied the girl insulted. "I know what a gallon is. I just didn't realize that they randomly glowed. Say, are _you _from Earth?"

Luna didn't hear much after the word "glow". She was too busy running out the door. She might have been in the Ravenclaw common but she could run fast. As a matter of fact she was a track star!

Luna skidded to a stop in front of the Fat Lady. "Wattle Bird."

The Fat Lady began to swing open lazily. "Wait." She said closing again. "Are you sure you're in Gryffindor? I haven't seen you around much."

"Of course I'm in Gryffindor! How else would I know the password?" Neville had given her the passwords as they changed so that if he forgot he could simply ask her. She'd never entered the common room before but this was an emergency. Harry needed her help!

"I can't let you in until I'm sure you're in Gryffindor, dear." The Fat Lady said simply.

"But this is an EMERGENCY!" Luna exclaimed.

Before either of them could argue the problem farther four Gryffindors came running towards the portrait hole. Hermione and Ron came running from the left while Neville and Ginny came from the right.

"Wattle Bird!" All four of them shouted at the same time, reaching the Fat Lady in a frenzy.

"What's all the rush?" The Fat Lady asked swinging open quickly.

"Harry?" Ginny shouted, fear for her one true love and close friend making her completely ignore the Fat Lady.

"Fine then. Ignore me." The Fat Lady muttered as all of them, including Luna, filed into the common room with great haste.

As they entered they were barely able to see Harry's head sticking out of a hole in the floor. As they ran to reach him they watching in horror as he was completely engulfed by the black hole.

Without thinking Ginny dived headfirst into the hole after Harry, expecting to be stopped from entering or to land somewhere soft. Instead she ended up knocking Harry completely off the ladder and his wand from his belt loop. Together they fell for a couple minutes in the dark. The only light came from below them as Harry's wand fell into the unknown.

Suddenly one by one little dots of light began to descend what Harry thought must have been the ladder he had fallen from. It was weird how he had known instinctively that it was Ginny falling through the hole beside him, but what was weirder was the fact that no matter how loud he shouted his voice made no noise. It made the hole seem huge, almost as if he and Ginny had fallen into a black hole in space and not one in the common room floor.

Fear gripped Harry. What if they HAD somehow fallen into a black hole and where now tumbling around aimlessly in space?

Reason took over and Harry began to calm down again.

Magic might be unpredictable, but if Harry and Ginny were in space they wouldn't be able to breathe. There for, they were somewhere on Earth. Gravity might not be so strong here, but there was still enough gravity for them to be somewhere on Earth, most likely they were still in Hogwarts.

Yeah. This was just another odd room in Hogwarts. Everything was going to be OK. Those moving dots of light were most likely the rest of the DA following Harry and Ginny.

Harry suddenly heard a clatter. Looking down he noticed that his wand had stopped moving and he and Ginny were now getting closer to where it lay. Somehow he and Ginny had ended up landing on their feet safely in each other's arms.

Harry bent down to pick up his wand as Luna, the last on the ladder, stepped off of the last rung.

"Harry?" Ginny was in Harry's arms, yet her voice sounded a million miles away. "Harry where are we?"

"Hermione? Hermione are you all right?" Harry could tell that Ron was shouting, yet his voice was barely more than a whisper.

On a sudden whim Harry began whispering to the others. His voice echoed around the empty space. "OK, who's all here?" Even Harry felt himself jump at the sudden loudness of his own voice. "Whisper your replies so I can hear you."

"How is that going to work?" Hermione yelled in frustration.

"Simple," Luna said. Her voice as loud as Harry's had been. "The great magic used to conceal this place alters our hearing. In order to hear things clearly we have to listen to the whispers. And if we don't want to be heard we shout."

In the dull light of the six friend's wands Neville looked at Luna with a clear expression on his face, admiration. "Wow, Luna." He whispered. "How'd you know that?"

Luna smiled at him through the wand light. "They didn't put me in Ravenclaw for nothing." She replied. On missions everyone seemed to notice that something changed in Luna a little bit. She wasn't as much of a space case.

"I'm here," Ginny whispered as Ron cleared his throat. "Along with Neville, Luna, Hermione and Ron. I think everybody is OK."

"Yeah," Replied Ron.

Hermione stepped closer to Ron and whispered, "Where do you think we are?"

"I'm not sure, Love." Ron shouted the last bit so no one else would hear him, but unfortunately for him they were all standing too close together.

Harry and Ginny shared an all know grin and Luna laughed victoriously exclaiming, "I knew!"

Neville was the only one who stared at Ron and Hermione like they had grown three extra heads each. "Why am I always the last to hear of these things?" He asked.

Ron was thankful for the darkness, for no one could see his ears turn the shade of his hair. "What's the plan guys?"

"Here's a door," Ginny suggested. "Maybe we should open it."

Grasping the door handle Harry turned the knob and pushed the door open slowly, cautious about what might be on the other side, wand at the ready.

"Ahhh, Harry." Dumbledore's voice filled the room as Harry opened the door the rest of the way. "You're late, I didn't think that it would take you that long to descend the ladder."

Harry and the rest of the group stared at the man before them. The man they thought to be dead. When suddenly another man walked into their line of sight and turned on some lights, revealing a large living room setting.

"Nice to see you again, Harry!" Sirius said hugging Harry hard.

Harry couldn't find his voice as tears began to fall down his face. What was happening? Sirius wasn't a ghost; he had just hugged him. But Sirius was dead. He had fallen through that veil in the Department of Mysteries.

And Dumbledore! He was dead too! Harry had seen Snape kill him, yet there he stood arms wide, offering Harry a hug. Numbly Harry excepted the hug. He didn't go through Dumbledore either.

Ginny was the first to recover her voice, "But, but both of you are DEAD…" when she whispered, this time it actually came out in a whisper.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked quickly after. "Are we also dead?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "No. Of all the people in this room, none of us are dead."

"How…" Harry started to ask.

"Let him explain, Harry." Sirius warned. "But before he begins, can I get you anything to drink?"

"I'll take a soda." Luna replied, as if nothing was wrong.

"Take a seat and make yourselves comfortable. This could prove to be a long story." Dumbledore stated, waving his wand revealing six large, comfortable-looking chairs.

The group took a seat as Sirius re-entered the room with sodas for everyone. "Just try and understand. That's all we ask."

"We'll start with Sirius' 'death'," Dumbledore started. "Firstly I'd like to say it was planned by the Order. Secondly I'd like to say it was a STAGED death, we weren't planning on actually killing him. We just wanted him to go through that Veil."

"That's why he jumped up on that stage while fighting!" Neville exclaimed.

"Preciously." Dumbledore replied. "What we weren't planning on was having Sirius's cousin push him through, he was just supposed to trip and fall into it. But as you can see this made his 'death' more believable.

"The whole point was to get the ministry off of Sirius's back and to make Voldemort feel superior in killing off people close to Harry. This took several months to plan. But the Veil Sirius fell through was actually a portal to the newest meeting place for the Order of the Phoenix! Isn't that great?"

"Then why didn't Lupin let me follow Sirius through the Veil?" Harry asked.

"This is the new meeting place for the Order?" asked Hermione at the same time as Harry had voiced his own.

"Yes, Hermione it is. Now to answer your question, Harry. We couldn't let you follow Sirius through the Veil because his death had to be real enough in you for Voldemort to believe it."

"What? Why couldn't you have told me before now?" Harry shouted. His rage channeled through his voice making it loud and gruff.

"Don't you see?" Dumbledore asked. "You have just mastered occlumency, we couldn't risk giving you information at any other time for fear that Voldemort would try to read you mind again."

"So you're telling that you couldn't trust me with such valuable information?" Harry asked, enraged even more so, feeling highly insulted.

"Not so much you, Harry, as the Dark Lord." Dumbledore replied.

"All right," Ginny said. "That explains why Sirius is alive and well. But why are you still breathing, Professor?"

"Ahhh…" Dumbledore replied.

"Or was your death staged as well?" Ron asked suspiciously.

Dumbledore nodded pulling out a box of Junior Mints. "Anybody care to try one? They're a Muggle candy. Sort of a mint flavor wrapped in chocolate. They are quite tasty."

Luna looked happy as she took a Junior Mint and popped it into her mouth. "I knew it! I told my father that something like this had happened! I mean everybody who read the Quibbler knew that Sirius was seen at a rock concert!"

Sirius laughed. "I had to get out and do something!"

Everybody stared at him except Luna and Dumbledore.

"These really are good, Professor!" Luna said reaching for another chocolate.

"I told you so." Dumbledore replied.

"Enough of chocolate candies already!" Hermione shouted. "How did you stage your death, Sir?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Simple. I had Snape pretend to kill me as Harry as our witness. I was actually already in this very room."

"You call this a room?" Ron muttered. "It seems more like a hole to me."

Dumbledore continued ignoring Ron. "I was controlling only a small fraction of myself."

"You mean like a horcrux?" Harry supplied.

"Yes, that it was, Harry. And so only a small part of me truly died that night. Yet again Harry had to be the one to witness it so Voldemort was sure to know it truly happened."

"So that's why you were acting weird," Luna muttered. "You could only control so much of what your horcrux did."

Again Dumbledore smiled at Luna and her brilliance.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way, Harry." Sirius said. "I'd tell you it was for your own good but you've heard that so many times before I'm sure it wouldn't matter."

"How could both of you remain down here and let me suffer up there! I thought you two were DEAD! Do you know how I feel at the moment?" Harry asked, his anger still contorting his voice. "I fell so betrayed that words can't describe it. I fell so left out so useless… so used! How could you?"

Ginny touched his arm lightly. "Harry, aren't you even slightly happy to know that they are both alive and well? Doesn't that at least cancel out some of your pain?"

Harry looked at Ginny. " Some, Ginny, but only a little. Look at it this way. I lost my parents along with any adult Voldemort found out I've idolized. I thought them all dead."

"So did the rest of us," Ginny replied. "But doesn't that make them being alive so much better?"

Harry didn't answer her.

"So please explain, Professor, how did you create this vortex?" Luna questioned.

"Same as other Wizards and Witches have created other galaxies!"

"Witches and Wizards created the galaxy?" Neville asked quite amazed.

"No, Neville." Hermione stated. "Power like that would kill us before it even got started!"

"So you found this place in Hogwarts?" Ron asked as amazed as Neville.

"Yes, Ron." Dumbledore replied his eyes twinkling. "This room is one of the many mysteries of Hogwarts!"

**A/N:** I hope you liked it! I apologize, Moose, for posting this so late. My excuse is computer problems. I'd tell you that a monster came and ate my computer but the truth is a virus attacked it. Now my computer no longer likes the Third Floor Corridor and I have to visit it from other computers! Sniffle, sniffle. I hope the rest of you enjoyed this odd story and REVIEW please and thank you!


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